1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to the field of network access providers and in particular to the field of providing distributed network access via gateways. Still more specifically, the present invention relates to the field of providing content during network access via gateway(s) of an network access provider.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several Internet service providers (ISPs) provide services at public venues such as hotels, airports, and restaurants. Where the ISP is accessible via wireless access, the area at which the access signal is detectable is called a “hot-spot”. ISPs may also provide distributed access in metropolitan area networks (MANs) or other venues. Enabling access at these venues/locations is typically implemented using an access system that includes a wired or wireless access point and a gateway.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example configuration of a gateway access system utilized to provide a personal computing device (PCD) 105 of a user with access to a background network, such as the Internet 150, via an access point in a public venue/location. As shown, the gateway access system 100 comprises network distribution unit (NDU) 110, which represents the wired or wireless access point of the ISP at the location. PCD 105 is shown in wireless connection with NDU 110 in FIG. 1, but can be coupled through a wired connection in alternative embodiments. Gateway access system 100 of the ISP also comprises access control gateway 120, which controls whether a user is allowed to connect to the Internet 150. Access control gateway 120 controls the connection to the Internet 150 through a firewall 130, which blocks internet access until certain conditions are met. For example, internet access may be blocked until: (a) the user provides appropriate authorization parameters (login ID, password, and/or other login credentials); and/or (b) the user pays for the access (assuming the access is not free); and/or (c) the user otherwise agrees to terms of use. Firewall 130 executes on gateway web server 140, and provides the mechanism that completes the conditional blocking/unblocking of access to the Internet 150. The gateway 120, gateway web server 140 and firewall 130 may be proximal to the venue/location of the NDU 110 and/or PCD 105, or remotely located.
Personal computing device (PCD) 105 is a user device, utilized to access the access point (NDU 110) and ultimately the Internet 150. PCD 105 may be a laptop or other internet-ready device, such as a handheld computer, or “Wi-Fi” (Wireless Fidelity) phone, a Wi-Fi enabled game device, or other similar system. PCD 105 is configured with a wired or wireless network interface card and a web browser that displays web pages via standard hypertext transfer protocol (http) and/or secure http (https), for example. PCD 105 thus connects to NDU 110 via wired or wireless connection.
After establishing the communication with the PCD 105 (via NDU 110 and access control gateway 120), the gateway web server 140 directs the PCD 105 to a “connection” page hosted on the gateway web server 140 to complete an initial connection process. This process typically occurs when a web browser is opened on the PCD 105 and before the PCD 105 is allowed to browse third party web pages on the Internet. The connection page presents user connection options, prompts for payment, terms of use, and other features, which are displayed within the web browser of the PCD 105. As shown in FIG. 2, there may be several gateway pages 215 (numbered “pages 1-L”) that are displayed to the user on the ISP's web server 140 during the initial connection process. With these pages 215, the user of PCD 105 is able to accepting the terms and/or input payment information (e.g. credit card number), user information and/or other requested information. After the user completes interacting with the gateway pages 215 (and enters the requested information), the firewall blocking the access to the Internet 150 is removed, and the user may then utilize PCD 105 to browse third party web pages 225 via the Internet 150.
In conventional implementations of these gateway access systems, several network service providers (or gateway providers) provide some form of advertising content to the user during the credential/login process. The advertising may be provided within the connection page(s), on one or more of the gateway pages 215, or during the period after completing the initial connection process but prior to displaying the content of the first third-party web page 225 requested by the user.
The current state of the art in providing advertising by the service provider (SP) is to gather information on the customer during the initial connection process and to optionally provide advertising, specialized content, or other items of interest to the customer via the gateway pages 1-L (215), which are displayed during the initial connection process. With these conventional gateway access systems, however, after the initial connection process, the ISP “relinquishes control” of the PCD 105 and the SP has no further way of presenting advertising or other content to the user without interrupting a session with a message window placed on top of screen currently displayed on the PCD 105 (e.g. a time expired warning message).
One method has been proposed to enable delivery of further “advertising” content to the user following the initial connection process. In this method, the SP relays information about the user or the PCD (e.g., location) to other partners that provide web services on the Internet. Then, if the user happens to visit the website(s) of one of the partners, the partner's web site(s) is able to recognize the user of some characteristic of the user or PCD and display specific, targeted information to the user while the user is browsing the partner's site. This targeted advertising is based solely on known information about that user or user's PCD, which are collected during the connection process, and requires the user browse to the partner's web site.
An obvious limitation of this method is that information (e.g., advertising content) can only be displayed to the user if the user happens to browse to that particular partner's website(s). Given the millions of websites that are on the Internet, the likelihood of any user of the gateway access system actually visiting even one of the partner's web site(s) is relatively small. Thus, as is made clear by the above descriptions, the state of the art in providing SP-directed/influenced content to users who utilize the existing gateway access systems is severely limited. The existing gateway systems have no practical way of offering advertising while the user is browsing the Internet following the initial connection process.